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Taking Stock of Our First Year

Posted by Brendan Kinney
Moderator of #fundchat

One year ago, I set up a Twitter account for #fundchat, sent out a bunch of tweets promoting a conversation about social media fundraising, sat by my computer at the appointed hour, and waited. Would anyone show up? Can I participate and moderate at the same time? Would people find it interesting?

Forty five conversations later, an amazing group of nonprofit professionals (from all over the world) have gathered around this modest little hashtag to share their expertise, frustrations, and ideas. We’ve done so with a sense of humor (you know who you are), camaraderie, and have always enthusiastically welcomed newcomers.

We’ve covered topics from capital campaigns to annual appeals, gift acceptance policies to donor loyalty programs, crowdfunding to nonprofit board management. The blog has become a hub for #fundchat, serving as a place to prep and brainstorm about future topics, to a library of (almost) all our chat transcripts. We’ve also tried some other experiments, including a webinar and chat at the same time, a live chat about capital campaigns, and we’ve tried other times of the week and day. The blog has also published guest posts by a group of nonprofit pros. Others across the Twitterverse have started using the #fundchat hashtag, and on a regular basis, the @fundchat Twitter account is used to share news and ideas about nonprofit fundraising and marketing.

The @fundchat Twitter account has 1,719 followers and has sent out 3,577 tweets. We’ve had chats with a dozen participants and some with more than 50. We also know many people “lurk” and others regularly review #fundchat transcripts. Our last chat about helping nonprofits manage their social media presence, reached 156,000 people on Twitter and included more than 500 tweets by 62 contributors. I’m hoping that @hashtracking, the service that provides #fundchat with transcripts and stats (thanks guys!) can tally up our numbers for the whole year.

 So, what do you think? Should we keep going? The impact and quality of #fundchat has improved over time because of your enthusiasm, suggestions, and most of all participation. I welcome your feedback, ideas, and support as we move ahead…let’s keep the conversation going!

To all of my #fundchat tweeps: #gratitude.

  • BrendanKinney

    Thanks to all of my #fundchat tweeps for making our first year such a big success!

  • http://www.diversa.ca lpena

    Brendan, the credit goes completely to you for being such a visionary, leader and all around great guy to lead us into interesting and fun discussions on a weekly basis.  You make Twitter that much for relevant and useful for fundraising professionals.
     
    Let keep the chats going and continue exchanging on such important themes. Here’s to another year!
     
    Cheers!

    • BrendanKinney

       @lpena Thanks Ligia! You have been a great asset to the #fundchat community, often supplying ideas for many of the topics and questions that we tackle! It’s a group effort.